I got quite a few comments about my advice to Unused boot. Most challenged my recommendation to start the process of documenting behavioral and performance problems to set the stage for involuntary termination. So first, a clarification. The recommendation stands, but it includes coaching and counseling the offending programmer as to the proper style, venue, and timing for his commentaries. The termination I got quite a few comments about my advice to Unused boot. Most challenged my recommendation to start the process of documenting behavioral and performance problems to set the stage for involuntary termination.So first, a clarification. The recommendation stands, but it includes coaching and counseling the offending programmer as to the proper style, venue, and timing for his commentaries. The termination shouldn’t be inevitable, but it should be established as a clear outcome should the programmer refuse to change his approach.A programmer willing to embarrass a new department head in a public setting by asking pointed and unpleasant questions is a problem. Employees need to have confidence in their leaders or they’ll lose morale and focus. This programmer – remember, he was a favorite of the new director’s predecessor who was fired for cause – acted in a way that could easily have reduced that confidence. What might not be clear is the difference between authority and authoritarianism. Strong leaders welcome, and even solicit challenges before they decide on a course of action, just as strong programmers welcome code reviews and testing as a way to ensure the quality of their efforts. Doing so results in no loss of authority.Authoritarian leaders are generally weak leaders – they do the opposite, considering any challenge to be a challenge to their authority. The mistake they make is failing to distinguish between challenges before and after they’ve made a decision: A challenge before a decision improves and clarifies thinking. One made after committing to a direction is different – it amounts to second-guessing and is counterproductive.And refusing to abide by a decision is, to use an old-fashioned and out-of-fashion word, insubordinate. Which is to say it’s destructive of everyone’s time and energy, and publicly challenges the leader’s authority to decide. While IT leadership has special challenges common to the leadership of all groups of highly intelligent analytical professionals, it also shares something critical with every other leadership role: If, as a leader, you relinquish your authority you’ll find it hard to get it back. Part of maintaining authority is demonstrating the spine to do so.– Bob ——– Technology Industry